Symphony Atlas

About

How Symphony Atlas works

Symphony Atlas in focus mode: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 playing, with the sonata-form map of the first movement under the video and the Development lit as it plays

Symphony Atlas shows where you are in a piece of classical music while it plays. Press play on a great recording and follow its form as it unfolds: where the exposition ends, when the theme comes home, what the coda is doing.

Corrections

Anyone with an account can say whether an analysis is accurate and report a timing error from any row. Our editors review the reports and correct the timings.

The recordings

Every recording is a public YouTube video, played in YouTube’s own player, and it plays for everyone.

Texts and sources

The analyses and notes are written in our own words. Background texts taken from Wikipedia are marked as such, with a link to their source and their licence.

What is free

Every recording plays for free, and the names and starts of every movement, with the first sections of every analysis, are open to all. A selection of works is open in full (free to listen). Premium members follow every section of every work and can rate, review and keep notes. One plan: $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year, the first 3 days free. No ads.

Who we are

Symphony Atlas is an independent project for listeners who want to hear how the music is built. Write to us at support@symphonyatlas.com.

Screens

Listening guide to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5: the recording above a map of the first movement’s ten sections, from Exposition to Coda
The sections of the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth in sonata form, each with its time, the Development highlighted while it plays
Symphony Atlas on a phone: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 with the section map under the video

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